Alone
by Samkin-lone-Senshi
Summary: Living a solitary life for Itachi is normal, that was until he met Hitori, since then his life has changed.
1. Chapter 1

Alone

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I don't wish to. By the way, please don't get annoyed with this story. This goes with a trilogy I wrote, so hopefully, I will have the rest up for you to read. Thank you. Please be nice.

Part 1: Once Alone Always Alone

I can't believe this, I can't believe I'm in a place where I don't even know where I am, she thought as she walked out of a restaurant where she had been working for the last few months. She walked toward her home, but her mind was flying over the fact that she was alone totally in the world and never knew who she was here. She pulled out a pack of Tarot cards and sat down in a corner the store and did a reading.

She looked up as someone walked in and she went to get her apron. "Don't bother," the owner whispered to her softly. "I will have Shinko do it, continue with your break."

She went back to her cards and stared down at a card that had a skeleton on it. "Death, new change, new life, new changes to come," her voice was soft and someone walked up behind her, she jumped.

The man blinked at her and then down at the cards. "You are a fortune teller, are you not?" his voice was low and dark.

She nodded and he sat down in front of her pushing some coins into her hand. "Read."

"For you?" she nodded and shuffled the cards and then had him shuffle them and then cut them. She set the cards up on the table in a cross like pattern. "This form is called the Celtic Cross, now then let me start. Your present position card which in the center is The Tower and it is the symbol of danger and malice, you have done something you are not pleased with." She continued and blinked as one card came up, it was a strange card she would not have expected. "It is the Lovers card, but from all these cards, you are going to force this person to part from you."

His eyes moved over hers and pulled her toward him when he stood with a knife to her throat. Her eyes were wide. "Take your cards and put them away," he whispered softly, his voice was almost dark and evil. She did as she was told, putting the cards in a bag that hung at her waist. She stared up at him in shock she had no idea what she had done to him, she was soon being dragged into the alley behind the restaurant.

"Hey, Itachi, where did you go?" a man who was completely blue walked out, he stared Miki and then blinked. "Oh, the fortune telling girl."

"Please, it was just a fortune, if it was a bad reading, I'm sorry, you can have your money back," she gasped as she was let go and was breathing hard.

"I don't care," the one named Itachi blinked as he put his weapon away.

Her eyes were wide as she tried to make sense why she was snatched like this. She was forced to walk with the man named Itachi who was staring at her. "You are very good even if you are considered a fake."

"Well, it is the only thing I'm good at. Where I came from, everyone called it witchcraft," her eyes were down. "So I guess being a witch isn't such a bad thing, considering that once you're alone, you're always going to be alone."

* * *

Miki stood in front of a group of several different men who were looking at her and then were whispering. "So this is the witch, she doesn't look powerful."

"She only has precognition," Itachi whispered and looked away. "Aside from that she's not quite what you made her out to be."

"You don't get it, she has something about her that makes her powerful."

"I'm just a stupid fortune teller, nothing SPECIAL!" She finally yelled. "I'm just that and nothing more. I have no special abilities or anything a Ninja has, just let me be!"

"I think I agree with her," another person whispered and walked away. "Return her to where you found her."

* * *

Miki's Point of View

My life changed the moment I met Itachi and Kisame, in fact other than the rest of the group of Akatsuki, these two were more human. "What is your name?" Itachi asked me when we walked out of the room.

"Miki," I whispered softly and he stopped staring at me.

"That name has to go, from now on your name is Hitori," Itachi whispered to me as we walked toward where I had met him. "I will come for you tomorrow."

"I have to work," I whispered.

"Not anymore," his voice was dark, it was empty too, like he was trying to hide his emotions from me.

I arrived at the restaurant and stood at the door for a few minutes, he arrived as he said he would and took me away from this little town. I was never to see it again, the elderly man who ran the store watched as Itachi gave him money to forget about me. I was given the rest of my pay for that week and I was to get what little I owned, which was merely the kimono I was wearing and my Tarot deck.

I never minded walking, and Itachi would not ask if I was tired of it, we would stop to rest along a bank of a river. That was when he cut off my hair, I had long brown hair that hung loosely tied back by a black ribbon, he took out a kunai and cut off to the point that I resembled a young teenaged boy. He pushed some clothes into my arms and pointed to a secluded place where he and Kisame would not see me change.

Changing into these clothes, I walked out in black and tired to look at them as they were eating. I was given something to eat, my eyes moving over the two of them curious of what they meant to do with me. "We aren't going to hurt you," Itachi whispered and then got up, his eyes were now a dark red. "I just wish to know how you are able to use your powers when you have no Ninja abilities to call upon."

"I have no idea, it is just there," I walked ahead a few feet and turned to look at them. "I have always walked a lonely path when it comes to my abilities. I don't generally know who or what I am, I just know what I can do. Seeing the future is not really common, is it?"

"You have a point," the blue skinned, Kisame nodded and smiled at me. "You are very strange in how you think you are totally alone."

My mind flew back to my other world, to the world where I knew I was utterly alone, people stared at me and called me names that hurt. I made no real difference between friend or foe, I was just a tool to be used then thrown away when I was no longer helpful. Itachi and Kisame were no different, once they tired of me, I was sure they would want to kill me.

* * *

Itachi's Point of View

Hitori's mind was different, she was empty of emotions toward me or any one else who spoke with her before we found her, I saw her for what she should be. Her reading of me in the cards was strange and almost too accurate, when I was ordered to do away with her by Akatsuki, I could not do it. Something stilled my hand, it was either the fact I found the orders to be stupid because she utterly forgot the reading or because she interested me in a manner I never took much stock in.

For weeks I would watch her work and for even longer I pondered whether I would speak with her or not. Before the reading that is, I suppose it was curiosity, the odd movement of her hands as she placed each card in front of me while I stared at the strange pictures. She told me what they meant and where they were placed in the forms she created. Each setting brought to light things that I believed were buried.

"You know, the cards don't really tell the future, they tell you things you need to know or you knew already, these can help you in the future, they are like stepping stones." Her voice was soft after we went to meet with Akatsuki, she walked away and had tried to look at me with empty eyes. "Even if I could tell you the future, nothing is set, you must make your own future."

I knew that, anyone could have told her that, but there was something else there in her that she was utterly unaware of. It fought inside her mind, something needed to be pushed out of her, it was torturing her from the inside out. I was wondering though why I who was so cold was almost concerned for her safety.

I, Uchiha Itachi felt something for Hitori, something that made me almost sick to my stomach. I could not even raise a kunai to her neck, I couldn't slash her throat, while I just slashed off her hair. I stood there hacking the hair to a shortened length, I could not even bring myself to make a wound on her. I just stood there staring at her as we started to walk again, she was eating some bread and looking off into space, she was not stupid, she knew we were leading her away from the place she called home. "Where are you from?" I could Kisame asking her.

"Don't know, even if I knew, I would not want to go there. I don't make personal attachments to places," her voice was distant, far more different from mine. "I was considered something evil." Her eyes were down when she thought about it, she hated her past, she hated her future too, she had no real place unless she made it. "There is a saying, talk little, listen much, I listened too much, I'm afraid that I learned too much."

"That doesn't make you evil," I finally spoke. "It means you are far more intelligent than those who accuse of you being something you clearly are not." Somehow I sounded angry, like I wished death on anyone who so much as laid a hand on her.

She looked at me stunned, then I saw a small smile. "It means that, but no one wants a woman who is too smart?"

I would want someone who matches me in intellect; those had been the words I had said to my father at one time when I was twelve. I was forced to attend a marriage meeting of one of the high born families; it had been a time I dreaded. The girl was two years older than me and worse was one of my classmates. She was a strange Ninja and the best medical ninja I knew, she was highly skilled and that meant though I was to marry her when I came of age.

I wonder now if Sasuke met his marriage match, when he turned seven I heard my father talking to the head of the Hyuuga family about his eldest daughter. I had learned that the arrangement had been made even at the time of his birth. I was sickened that my life and the life of my brother's was already decided, we had no choice on who we loved. When I thought about killing my family, it was to make it so that my brother decided his own future.

We finally made it to a village almost at dusk, we could not move about at night and I realized that even if we did, Hitori would need to rest. I discovered that the use of her abilities not only drained her, she would have visions in her sleep. I had decided to document her visions as she settled down for bed. I sat by her futon as she slept, I suppose she did not mind my hovering as I watched her closely. There was one thing I discovered, my Sharingan had no affect on her, I did not know if I was pleased or mortified.

I wrote down every vision, every thought as she spoke in her sleep, talking in her sleep was normal, I guess, at least for her. I wrote down the words as they came, then I too nodded off to sleep, I woke sometime later with a blanket brought about my shoulders and I saw Hitori sleeping on her side facing away from me, the blanket had been hers.

* * *

When morning did come, I discovered that even though I had told her to stay in the room, she would sit looking out the window. She stared out at the blue sky and I then realized something, someone had given her a piece of paper and on it she sketched a face, it was of Sasuke, then there were was something else, something that made little sense. A snake was in the background and she slowly stared at me with a sleepy gaze.

"What does it…" Kisame stood at the door as she got up.

"The boy is being used, he wishes to be stronger, but he is going about it the wrong way. Even if someone were to tell him, he would not listen," her voice was ghostly, almost half awake, that was when I walked up and shook her awake.

Her trances were coming now as days would go by, these trances were brought on by simple things, nothing I did or even Kisame. These were just strange moments when she would be sitting there, her eyes would loose their color and suddenly she would start saying something that was completely out of character, her voice was monotone and dark. Her face would change as well, even if I were able to stop her, I could not do it, she would continue like this for a few minutes, when she came out of it, she had no memory of what she had said.

If I had known what she truly was, then I would have made sure that she was hidden from the world. Any Ninja from any village could use her as a weapon, something that could cause wars as easily as one could turn on a radio. She would broadcast her readings only to me, she trusted me with this, I had no one to tell.

The boy, I knew who she was talking about, she was talking about Sasuke, the little fool was playing the pawn to Orochimaru's powers, but the boy had his own decisions to make, I was not going to smack sense into him. I was going to leave Naruto to do that, I had to make sure that Hitori was to be taken somewhere for safe keeping.

Hitori came out of her trance and sat staring at me blankly, I was going to have to start documenting these as well. We wandered toward a heavily wooded place, this was not going to be the place where I abandoned her, somehow I would kill her and myself if we did that. I found the abandoned house, I had run here after killing my family, this hidden place was overlooked by everyone. I made sure that it was kept in good condition, I walked through the old building and then gave my mark of approval. "Your new world is here."


	2. Chapter 2

Alone 

Part 2: Poisons

Hitori's Point of View

My life was different in this little house deep in the woods, I grew my own food, I learned from Itachi which were good and which were not. Kisame became my other friend, he would tell me about the oceans and the sea creatures he loved. Something about the two were completely different, Itachi showed me a side of himself that he kept in the shadows.

He watched as I cooked and cleaned for him, he sat there watching me as I made him dinner, then he brought out his hand. "Don't," his voice was darkening again when I would become too close. Something inside us linked, not that I had much choice in the matter, over a month or even longer, I lost count, something changed. We kept it to ourselves, I pondered a mystery and he pondered mine. We would sit for hours watching each other, then I would black out.

He said I would I say things during my black outs, things he realized were the future. I would not say a word afterward, I did not ignore it, but it made me afraid of what I would say to him. "You're pregnant," his words were soft as it reached almost a year since I was forced into hiding.

He had left me alone in the house for a couple of months, then when he had returned, he and I shared a strange night, after that one night, things changed. I had visions at night, but they were different. "If you want me to have…"

"Have it, it is yours," he whispered to me, his voice was almost angry, as if what he thought I was going to say would make him even more upset.

* * *

Itachi's Point of View

It had been a mistake, my mistake, I had taken advantage of her, when I had blurted it out, my voice cracked somewhere in it. I had made an attempt on Naruto and was a little angry, but when I saw Hitori again, something in me almost turned upside down. Here I am, I am supposed to be strong and evil, but when she mentions the idea of aborting the baby, my mind almost flies into a rage, not at her, but myself. "Just have the baby, you are out here all alone, you need someone to…" I stopped speaking for a moment and looked up as someone was walking up to the house, this was all I needed.

ANBU had been sent out after me, now they found the house, I must have been careless, I went out back and a man walked up. "Have you seen this man?"

* * *

Third Person

Hitori stared at the image, her eyes closing as she touched the picture picking up something from it. "No, I have not," she had lied, but it was convincing enough and shook her head.

"You should think about moving into the village, miss, it is dangerous for one such as yourself to live out her all alone," Kakashi looked around the small yard and at the woman who seemed almost distant in voice and mind.

"I'm sorry, but I am not alone," her eyes closed again and she smiled. "I have all the friends I need from all the animals here, I would be miserable with all the people in the town, too many minds rushing about." She walked out into the yard.

"I see," he nodded. "I am sorry to bother you then." He walked away and left her at her own devices, but he was sure that someone from the village would come and see her. She was such a strange person, he had never realized that house was even livable, she must have worked on it on her own.

* * *

Hitori's Point of View

He was gone, I looked out into the yard as the man vanished, I waited and walked back into the house. I did not like the man, he was watching me, even as I walked about checking my crop of food I had grown on my own. He was going to be coming back with others and that would not do. I did not want to bothered by people, I looked around and sat down inside the house, this time, I was sure I was utterly alone, I turned to look around and found the strange man again sitting inside the house. "I did not invite you into my home."

"I must insist that you come to the village, this place is entirely too dangerous for you to be by yourself," he seemed very sincere about this.

"Fine," I went to get my cloak and walked out with him, this was becoming a difficult situation and for this, I wished that Itachi would come and collect me as soon as possible. The man, Kakashi as he introduced himself was being kind, but his concerned for my welfare was overshadowed by the fact that I was out here alone and single, and also pregnant seemed to top it off.

"Who is the father," he whispered to me.

"No concern of yours," I muttered and walked into the village, something about this place was overwhelming, people's thoughts were filtering in without control. Itachi kept me distracted enough that the control and the stimulation was low, but without him controlling the input, I was utterly defenseless.

That was when I blacked out.

* * *

Kakashi's Point of View

She fell forward, that was what stunned me, something about this woman was strange, but she baffled me, when I used the Sharingan on her, it was like a backlash. She sent a psychic flare that almost had me against a wall. She was no Ninja, but she was something else altogether. When she fell, it was as if something about this village had almost shocked her, that was when I saw someone snatch her away from me. It was the Fifth Hokage who was looking furious. "You brought an unprotected psychic into our village?" her voice was almost louder than normal. "Kakashi, you could have killed her!"

Killed her? I realized first off that psychics in a rare sense had the ability to forecast the future, but they were exceedingly fragile in health. Having her pregnant was almost a strange thing as well. Walking with Lady Tsunade to the hospital, I was instructed to not come near her until the doctors were sure she as all right.

She was not alone in that house, I knew she had been protecting Itachi, but for what reason, I could not place. Did she love him? When I had asked, she acted strangely, as if saying, something about love never existed between the two.

When I went to the hospital the next day, it was of course discovered she was pregnant, but she denied a paternity test on the fetus and refused anyone to come near her. "She's not a very easy person to get anything out of. Even when I did question her, she was sticking to her story, she never changed it," the inquistors seemed almost baffled. "She has a strong mind and she's extremely tough. I can't use truth serium, that would kill the baby."

"Then leave her alone," Tsunade yelled. "So far, just leave her alone, psychics like her need space. Kakashi already did enough damage by forcing her to come here."

When I saw Sasuke, the seventeen year old was bored with everyone else's idea of questioning. "If she isn't going to talk to us, let her do it her way," he whispered and looked around.

Her way, I had heard that psychics only answer questions a certain way. I returned to the house in the forest and found a deck of cards lying on a table. I brought the cards back to the hospital and brought them in front of her as she sat at a table near a window staring out. Her eyes were a dulled color, she turned and looked at me with strange eyes. "What you seek is gone, what the boy seeks is no where in sight. He sought horrible thing and now he must pay," her voice was dark and I realized that Sakura was standing in the room.

Her eyes came back to color and she appeared normal, but when I asked her what she meant, she just stared at me in shock. "She does that every now and then," whispered Sakura who walked in with some food. "She actually has been right almost 90 of the time, hard to believe really. When she said that Naruto-kun was going to fall down a flight of stairs, she was pretty much right. Then of course she also predicted that there was rain last night, and she was right there too."

I was convinced she was demon, but that was wrong, she was human, she looked and acted human. There was still the fact that she was living in a forest alone with Itachi, that she spent a year on her own with a murderer who could have killed her at any moment.

* * *

Hitori's Point of View

I spent a week in Konoha Hospital, I was sitting alone, I was always treated with kindness, but I did not belong here, I was simply not interested in the people here. I walked about the bedroom, I was given clothes, I was given care, but I wanted my solitude, what I would have given to be back in the forest. To have my lonely little existence in the forest, to have Itachi sitting with me while I gave my prophecies, these people did not deserve them.

I was impatient, I was silent, I was questioned about my life outside the village. "It is my home, I prefer solitude." My answer was always the same, they asked why I aided Itachi, but I did not say a word about it. Then again, I never aided him in anything, I never hid him, he hid himself, I never did anything but speak with him. "I never hid him, he hid himself."

"She has a point, asking her the same questions over and over never get us anywhere," I heard someone telling them when they left. "We should leave her back in her home."

"She must know something."

"She does not know," someone finally walked up to my accusers. "She knows nothing about his whereabouts. Even if she did, she would tell us, but she does not."

I watched from a window as a boy stood under it staring up at me. He looked like Itachi, but there were subtle differences, he face was softer. He had come inside through this window and was sitting on the sill staring at me as I went to the bed, allowing him to enter. "The baby, its his, isn't it?"

"In matter of speaking," my eyes were closed, a vision came, this young boy, no man was no more a child in my mind as Itachi was the person who claimed for his. "If I were to say it was, you would hate the child, would you not?"

The man's face changed to horror, as if thinking it was not my fault for what happened to me and Itachi. He came forward and whispered. "I would not, it isn't the child's fault for what his father did. I am the child's uncle."

"I see, you are Sasuke, then?" I stared at him as he nodded and looked me over. "You wonder why I allowed this upon myself. He was the only one who kept me alive, Akatsuki ordered my death, that he was to carry it out, instead he hid me. He hid me in the forest, he kept me a secret from everyone. I wondered though what would have happened if someone found me, what then? I also pondered if he should have done away with me."

"Psychics are used by high courts as weapons, things that…" Sasuke stopped what he was saying as the horror of what I would have endured came to surface. He realized his brother was keeping me alive to keep the prophecies I gave secret, to keep me from being used as easily as some toy by a spoiled child.

"I am a tool for war, Sasuke-san," I quickly moved to a chair. "Your brother knew this, that was why he was ordered to kill me. Keeping me alive was a mistake."

"No life is a mistake," Sasuke finally spoke. "You act as if…you think that you are just a tool. Aniki must have seen you for what you really are, something like himself, you never killed anyone in your life."

"But I see death!" I finally spoke more firmly. "Over and over again, each vision more gruesome then the next, Itachi always shielding them from me, always saying they are bad dreams. The child I carry will carry the same horrible gift as I do now." My eyes watered as I thought about the vision of Itachi lying before me, his eyes staring blankly up at me.

Sasuke stopped what he was saying and sat down again, his eyes moving over mine. "Anki kept you safe, now we endangered you."

I stood up and walked to the door. "I think you should leave, I am tired."

* * *

Sasuke's Point of View

My brother's wife, that was the best way to describe Hitori, she never spoke much, when we argued it was clear why my brother kept her. She never rebelled on him, but she kept her distance, she was keeping her distance from me as well. She barely looked at me, when she did look it was with a darkness that seemed to swallow me in it.

Kakashi called her the witch lady, but that hardly what she was, when I learned who she was and what child she carried. Something inside seemed to say that bringing her from the forest was a mistake. There was no reason for her to be dragged into my life or into my personal hell. Here I was with her, staring her down, but she would not budge, her empty gaze almost haunting me as I walked from the room. I turned to see Rock Lee standing in the hall. "You should leave her in peace."

"I can't, she's having my niece or nephew, Itachi could kill his own children," I finally whispered walking away, I was not going to leave the hospital until I got enough from her. She gave me the information so easily, it flowed like water, but somehow she gave me little about how my brother was treating her.

"She spent all her life knowing she was able to do what she did and people treated her like a weapon," Naruto was standing with Jeriaya, they were watching from a window as Hitori sat staring off into space. "She's scary."

"Not really," I responded and walked away. "She's like everyone else, a person."

Considering that she was in love with my brother, but that hardly the case, when I asked her if she loved Itachi, her eyes were empty and cold. "In my position, love might be some sort of danger." Her voice was as empty as his could have been at one time.

* * *

Itachi's Point of View

Hitori was safe, that was all I could consider, she was inside my home village away from me. I would leave her to her own devices Hitori deserved a better life than the one I gave her, but I also had to consider that I was able to block out the negative energies that would come out. She could read from me only that I blocked out and emptied her mind, but I had to face Akatsuki's punishment for not killing her.


	3. Chapter 3

Alone 

Part 3: The Trail of Distant Dreams

Hitori's Point of View

I was sitting inside my new home, this building was not my home in the forest, I was not alone either. Sasuke would visit me, this prison cell, this empty place, I was given no real comfort unless I answered questions. These questions about Itachi were annoying, I knew nothing and yet they thought I did. "Where did he go?"

"I told you before and I will tell you a thousand times, he will leave me for months at a time, he tells me nothing of where he goes and why he does what he does," my voice was firm, I never strayed from those answers. What did I care with what Itachi did, why would I concern myself with his trivial paths? "Why would it concern me?"

"You spent all your time in the forest and never once asked him?" someone finally sounded almost angry.

I shrugged it off. "I'm a psychic, I find the pursuit of such things as trivial. I have no care to answer anymore of your accusations, you act as if I committed a crime. I have never aided him in anything, he kept me hidden and that was all. Being what I am, do you think he would gain anything from taking me with him?" My eyes moved over my interviewers who pulled away from the cell and looked over at each other, their voices hushed.

"She really as not changed her story, even with a mind probe that Kakashi did, she's clean," someone finally walked up to the door and opened it. "Lady Uchiha, you must understand my…"

"I have no last name of which to be called. I not married," my voice was soft as I was finally led away by the one named Kakashi.

* * *

Kakashi's Point of View

She knew nothing of what they asked her, she lived in a forest and that was all she cared for. I stared at her from the shadows, I never once found a single answer to what they wanted to know, she never asked Sasuke's brother a single question, she kept to herself. That was the reason Itachi kept her alive, she cared little for his world or his own whereabouts, she was almost estranged from the world. Did Itachi feel the same way toward her, she distanced the pain and to love was alien?

* * *

Sasuke's Point of View

I went to see Hitori-san again, I started to become a little annoyed that now visiting her was like visiting some kind of prisoner. She was pretty much six months pregnant and it showed very little, she sat at a table using her cards as she read it. "You are here again," her voice was distant. "Why?"

"I want you to tell me the truth," I finally spoke. "You really don't know anything do you?"

"Even if I did, I would tell you," her eyes closed and she looked back down at the cards. "The baby is going to be a boy, what will I do? What will happen to my child?"

"Its up to you," I suppose I was going out on a limb, the child would be treated worse than Naruto was. I would be the child's uncle, but would I treat him like family? I asked these questions a dozen times. "You answered the questions and yet no one believes you."

"I don't blame them," Hitori's hands were again on the cards and stared at the form in front of her and then put them back in the deck and shuffled. "I might as well read your cards." She put the deck in my hands, they were warm as if something was sucking a little energy. "Just shuffle them."

I was shuffling them and I got flashes of memories, of almost two years ago, of her standing in front of Akatsuki and hearing them pass judgment on her. She was standing there as Itachi stood before her coming to her defense, this was not like him at all. Then came to the fact that my brother could not carry out her murder either, he brought her to the forest outside our village and left her there. I handed the deck to her, she cut it and she started to do her reading.

The positions of the deck made a cross like form as I sat there and her voice was almost ghostly, like the times she would have a prophecy. "Your current position has the Two Cups, the beginning or continuation of a relationship that has been weakened by absence. This person wants to love you, but her heart has been broken by you a few times," her eyes moves to a card that lay across from it. "This is the doubled with the Queen of Coins, this girl wants to be taken seriously and you are wishing that upon her too."

She's talking about Sakura, I had kept my interest of her hidden for the sake of my revenge against Itachi. Hitori's reading ended on a very bad card, well, bad in the sense that something seemed to say all that I worked on would isolate me from everyone else. "The Tower, this is very bad," Hitori's eyes moved to the cards and she sat back slowly, as if her chakra was drained by this. "Sasuke-san, I must tell you, if you continue on this journey, you will find nothing more than endless heartache."

"I know that," my voice was soft as I considered what happened through the reading. "This was more about someone that I am protecting from my curse. You seem to share in the curse with Itachi."

"I don't, I distance myself as he distances himself from me as well, I have no interest in being around him anymore than he has interest in keeping me hidden," her eyes were down, this made a lot of sense, well at least I considered it made sense. Her hands moved to a card that was called the outside emotions, it was the Lovers, she stared down at it. "This one does not really affect you directly, this one is for someone you are friends with, he has found love and yet you are jealous of it."

"I'm not jealous," my eyes were down, that was when I remembered, I was jealous, it was Naruto and Hinata. I knew for about a month that the two were closer than ever, she was stronger than I thought, not to mention she was not a bad person to talk to when one felt the need to speak. It took me awhile to realize that I was jealous of Naruto and her, they were happy and yet I could find no happiness.

"There is something else," she put the cards away and this was different. "Stop comparing yourself to your brother." Standing up Hitori stretched, her eyes moving over mine as we looked at each other equally. "I am not telling you this because I saw it in cards or even when I had a prophecy, I can see it in the way you talk to me. You really are silly to think that you should be competing against your brother, you are Sasuke and he is Itachi, two different people."

Those were things people never said to me, not even Naruto would be so blunt about it. I watched her as she got up and walked away from me. I walked from the cell and stood a few moments staring at the wall. "Let her go," I whispered to one of the guards.

I knew she was right, I knew from the moment she spoke those words and I was not angry at her. I was walking home when I noticed something else, I saw Naruto waiting for me, which was a first, usually I was waiting for him.

"You talked to her," his voice was soft. "What did she say?"

I would not tell him.

* * *

Hitori's point of view

Itachi was not coming, I accepted my fate, and the fate of a child who was not yet conscious of itself. What would I name such a child if he was born like me? My hopes lay that somewhere in my heart that my child would be like his uncle. I settled down to make a list of names, when I saw the door to my cell open again, this time, someone was telling me that I was free to go and someone apologized for holding me.

I walked toward the gates, but was stopped by the one named Kakashi. "Please, just stay in the village until the child is born, at least consider that a kindness," he was standing with me, my eyes moved to the forest.

"I'm a solitary person, I prefer the sound of birds and nothing more," I walked out the gate and found my home was destroyed, I was gone for months and I suppose it was my own hope that someone had come to take care of it. I turned to see Kakashi standing behind him, his eye was down, he was looking away feeling a little upset.

"Your home was wiped out due to a flood, I came each day to make sure the home was in good condition in case you were released early. Hitori-san, I'm sorry," he sounded sincere again.

We walked back to the village. "I heard what you said to Sasuke," he finally spoke up. "You were a little blunt."

"I told the truth," my eyes were on the path. "You should never listen into a private reading like that."

"I know."

We made it toward an apartment and there I found myself standing waiting for her to find her new home adequate. "Sasuke picked it out for you, he managed to…" I stopped when I saw her standing at the door to a third room, that was when I realized, that this was Sasuke's home. I knew he had a big place, but this was almost crazy.

* * *

A baby's crib was set up against a window, I moved it a little and then turned around, the room was filled with toys and other items, there were also things I had not noticed until now. Sasuke had gone to all this trouble to make me a home for my children. Kakashi was looking about the apartment in surprise, but he made little argument when I saw Sasuke walking into the room.

He was dressed as if he was going on a mission. "I found that you are going to need a lot help after the baby is born, as I am family, it is my duty to take care of the child as well," he whispered to me as he told Kakashi that I was going to be watched over.

I was not sure how to respond, I was used to handling life alone, now I had someone who was trying to look out for me. Someone who was different from Itachi who allowed me to have my space and not have intrusions. I went to lay down, my head was hurting, I was being almost pulled into many different visions. "I need to lay down," I whispered as Sasuke shut the door.

* * *

Sasuke's Point of View

I expected this, Hitori was so used to being left all alone in the world, she had no idea how to respond when someone tried to show her an act of kindness. "It is to be expected, you realize in a few months she's going to have the baby," Tsunade explained to me what I was to be expecting.

"What should I do if it comes early?" I stared at a calendar that was sitting inside the kitchen, Hitori was walking into the room as I said these words.

"It won't come early, my son will come a month late," her voice was low and rather quiet like she was in a trance.

She was supposed to be due in late February, but that was not to be, by April she was almost a week and half late, I paced the hall looking around for something to do. "You have a mission, why not go on it?" I heard Hitori say from her room and I shook my head.

"I can't what if you deliver without me here, all this preparing for my nephew to come a week late," I ran into her room as she sat up slowly, her eyes slits as she walked to get a suitcase. "He's coming?"

She did not say a word, we walked toward the hospital, she was not speaking at all as she checked herself in and there I stood in the hall feeling stupid. I paced and noticed that I was not alone, I saw a dark shadow outside a window, as if waiting for something to happen. I wanted to rush, but something told me to stay put, I walked into the bedroom when I finally saw Hitori holding a small baby and was looking out a window. "You're sure you want to name him that?"

"Hai, I'm sure, Sasuke would be a good name, named for his uncle and the one who is to raise him in my place," that was my brother talking, I stared at the interaction, but I was not about to deny my brother his own child.

I raised my hand to knock and saw Lee standing there behind me. "Go inside," he walked up to the door and it opened slowly, I saw Hitori sitting alone holding a small baby in her arms. "Hitori-sama, are you all right?"

"Lee-san, I'm fine," she smiled her eyes closed as she held the baby closer. "Sasuke-san, come here, I want you to meet your nephew, you are his name sake."

I felt the baby being put in my arms, I stared down at him, his dark blue eyes shimmering innocently up at me. This is my brother's child, this was Aniki's baby, my eyes shifted, I did not hate this child, how could I? His innocence was almost apparent from how he started to sob after being put in his mother's arms. "It looks like he's your baby more than hers," Lee was smiling and walked away. "By the way, what's his name?"

"His name is Sasuke," I smiled as the baby snuggled into his blanket going into a deep sleep. Hitori handed the baby to me and I put him in a crib next to the hospital bed, I sat down next to the crib. My hand moved over the baby's smaller one. "Sasu-chan, I'll make sure your mother and you are protected always."

This was a promise I intended to keep.


	4. Chapter 4

Alone 

(Note on language: Itachi calls his brother otouto-chan, but when he is talking to Sasu-chan, his son, he calls his brother, ji-san which is another way of saying grandfather or uncle, he is referring to Sasuke as uncle. Sasu-chan never calls Sasuke that, he usually will just say straight out Uncle or Uncle Sasuke when he gets older. Sasu-chan does refer to Itachi as To-san, and refers to his mother either as Haha or Ka-san. Oto-san or To-san means father, and Oka-san or Ka-san means mother. Chichi means Daddy or Dadda and Haha means Momma or Mommy.)

Part 4: Blood is Thicker than Water

Hitori's Point of View

I woke up slowly when I heard the baby crying, I walked into the room and found Sasuke holding the baby and rocking in a rocking chair very slowly as the baby drank from the bottle. Sasu-chan was what Sasuke called the baby, he sounded gentle and soft, Sasuke put a rag over his shoulder and burped the baby. "There we go," he whispered and put the baby in the crib. "You're a good boy."

I was not jealous, but I made no real attempt to separate him from his nephew, I could tell that Sasuke was deeply attached to my son, even though Ninja were trained for years to never show emotional attachment. Sasuke had emotional problems, he would become violently overprotective of Sasu-chan and myself. He forbid me to leave the village though in the end he had to let go and allowed me to return to a house that was within the gates, but inside a forested area away from the main part of town.

Kakashi would visit the house, though he rejected the idea of allowing me to be totally alone, I grew to respect his foresight. He had given me a space and he also gave me time outside the village gates without being disturbed, he knew that I was seeing Itachi still.

Itachi came only once a year now, my three year old son was always watching his father with silent curiousity, but most of the time, Sasu-chan lived with his uncle within the village, I had since moved back outside the village gates. I found Itachi would not lay a hand on me or my son, he would just stand silently watching, his eyes moving forever over my son who started to show signs of what he called Uchiha traits.

In all, I was very much withdrawn from him and from my own child. Sasu-chan grew very different from me, regarding me as neither mother nor guardian, he just stared at me curious of my reactions. He never really got what he wanted from Itachi either, the man was aloof of Sasu-chan's begging.

* * *

Itachi's Point of View

What made Hitori think, that was what bothered me, she never spoke to me what she planned or even considered possible. Her predictions were deadly accurate and for that, I had become much more estranged from her, but mentally we were forever connected. Her thoughts were not mine, but from what I could muster she was neither interested nor infatuated with people. She preferred the silence, and that was what interested me more, she hated people, she hated my intrusions on Sasuke-chan, my little son.

Did I love Sasuke-chan? I suppose I do, I never really told her that, that was until I figured something out that became my own undoing. Sasuke-chan lived sometimes in the village and sometimes with his mother, but he was going through a startling change, something that made Hitori wary.

When Sasuke-chan came to visit, I was staying for one night, Kisame had brought some toys for the little boy to play with, but my son did not really like toys and would much rather draw. He was drawing pretty well for a three year old child, I had no idea how artistic my child was until I saw the pictures. "What are you drawing?" I asked him as I sat down next to him.

The boy's clear cobalt eyes moved up to mine, then suddenly went pitch black, his entire eyes were dark, no light in them at all. "The house will be on fire," his eyes were normal as he went back to drawing, he looked up as Hitori came in and picked him to take nap.

I started at the picture and realized it was this house, when I returned, I head a muffled cry, I looked stunned. Could she do it? Would she do it to our child? I rushed into the bedroom and found Sasuke-chan kicking his feet and struggling against his mother as she put a pillow over his small face. I seized the moment and pulled her away, then rushed to my son who was choking and crying softly. He could no longer stay here!

I decided that if his uncle had to take it was the best visitations would cease if there was no one who accompanied him. My hands moved over the note and looked at a Hitori's handwriting, I had mimicked it pretty well, placing her thumb print on the bottom, I looked at Hitori who just stood there silently watching me. "He will just be doomed as I," her voice was dark and depressed.

"No, he will be raised a Ninja," I whispered and put the note in child's hand leading him away. "You are not to see him unless Otouto-san is with him, do you understand me?"

She regarded me with dark eyes and nodded, but I knew I was not about to hear the end of this. I also knew that this meant an end to my private visits with Sasuke-chan, but this was for his protection, I had to risk that.

* * *

Sasuke's Point of View

I had not expected to see my nephew this morning, he was standing outside my door, his eyes were watery and I noticed red marks on his neck. Had Aniki attempt to murder his son? I could hardly say, I just felt a cold lump growing in my stomach as my nephew was sobbing and holding onto me as I took him to his room for a nap. What was I to do? I sat down with him and asked him about it, but the little three year old who spoke as though he was five or six just shook his head. "To-san made Haha stop it." His voice was soft and rather indifferent.

"Ka-san did this?" I could hardly believe that Hitori-sama would be capable of doing something so violent toward her own child. My hands moved over the note and knew that really my brother had written this, I was not really angry and I was really though worried about Sasu-chan. I took my nephew to the doctor, who just smiled and said that he was fine, but that something had to be done to keep the redness from turning into a rash.

"Just put some lotion on it and it should be gone in a few days," she walked away and gave me some. I looked down at him, here I was almost twenty-one taking care of my brother's little son.

Some people had expected me to hate the boy, but how could I really hate him, Sasu-chan had never done anything wrong, he was just my nephew.

I became his father, his only living relative now.

I woke sometime before dawn the next morning and went to check on the little three-year-old who was looking around his room. He had been moved from a crib to a bed, but from time to time, I would see him slipping into mine holding onto me as I slept. My one bedroom apartment was soon turned upside down, I divided the bedroom with a white sheet and made his bed against a window that was bared off and could not really open. It was so rusted on the outside, that no amount of force could open it. I had taken my old bed from when I was a child from the dormitory I lived in from eight to twelve and rolled it in.

I put a stuffed bear on the bed and he stared up at me with dark cobalt eyes which shifted from cobalt to black. His black hair was short and sticking up a little, brushing it out, I went to get something for him to wear. "I have a present for you," I smiled at him as I went through a box of my old clothing, there had to be something in here that he could fit into. I brought out a small shirt and pulled off his pajama top, then put the navy shirt over his head, it was a little big. I smiled pulling out some shorts from when I was his age, he pulled them up and looked up at me, they were too big for him. "Well, I guess this will due until I can get some clothes for you," I told him as he held onto me.

He was sitting on my shoulders as we walked into a thrift store, I was not a rich ninja, that was one thing that people thought was strange. When my family died, I had no money to fall back on, I was a ward of the village, just as Naruto was. I had to on what was given in charity, sometimes going through my families old clothes and taking them as my own. Uncles and male cousins mostly, those who survived could not take me in, so I was left to fend for myself.

When Sasu-chan came into my life, I was not about to let that happen to him. I went through boxes of my own clothing, but all I had was suitable for a child of at least five up to ten, nothing that was good enough. I was a scrawny kid after all, did not really hit a growth spurt until I was thirteen, I still passed for ten when I was thirteen years old.

Digging through the boxes of clothing, I found the right shirts and so on. "He's going to out grow them pretty fast, you might try the next size up on the shirts and keep the pants fitted," this was the advice of the shop keeper who smiled at us. "Well, I'll expect you want your family crest stitched on. That will be a little extra, you know."

I nodded and reached into my wallet to bring out the money, I looked down at the two bags full of clothing. The stitching usually took a day or two, with ten shirts, that was going to be a little longer than normal. Sasu-chan yawned after this and nuzzled into my chest as I carried him back to the apartment, I realized it was passed his nap time.

Setting him in his bed, I took off his sandals and laid his head on the soft pillow, then I pulled the curtain shut, then I heard a thump, he had rolled off his bed. Now I knew why he wouldn't sleep in his own bed.

I watched a few hours later after Sasu-chan and I had our nap in my bed with me sitting next to him as Kakashi-sensei installed a bed guard. "He's too little to not have one of these," he told me rubbing the boy on the head as he looked up at him with large eyes.

"Puppy guy," the boy giggled.

"Well, you will learn my name sooner or later," he laughed.

Kakashi let himself out knowing that I was a little busy trying to keep Sasu-chan from getting into trouble. "I do have to go, if you need extra help, Sakura-chan did ask if you need someone to watch him for a few hours to just ask her."

I nodded and sat down near my nephew who was playing again.

* * *

Itachi's point of view

I watched from a distance, I did not move about the village, I would wait until my son and brother would go for their walks. Then I would leave, I never could say anything to him, when he was allowed to visit his mother, which was rare, I was waiting in the forest. He would sit outside while otouto would talk to Hitori asking about her health. I would motion for the little boy who would get up from his toys and walk up to me.

"Are you being a good boy for your ji-san," I patted his head and smiled at him as the boy smiled up at me, my hands moved over his head as he reached up wanted to be held, then before I could pick him up, I heard my brother.

"Sasu-chan! Time to go home," the voice was not sharp and was rather gentle.

Sasuke-chan ran toward his uncle and I watched hidden away from him. I did not know how it felt to just watch my child being raised by my brother. I knew I would have been a horrible father, I raised my brother and how he turned out was my entire fault. I walked away and I turned just as Kisame walked up. "So are you going to take Sasuke-chan with you?"

"He has a family."

* * *

Hitori's Point of View

I did not deny what Sasuke had asked of me, I had told the whole truth, whether he believed me or not, it was up to him. "How could you try and do that?" Sasuke sat staring at me in anger. "He's your own child."

"He's a doomed child, a psychic the same as I. You will protect him, you will hide it from him. Don't deny it," I whispered and put the tea I had made in front of him.

"He's only a small child, he doesn't know about what the cruel world can do," Sasuke sounded so sure he could do a better job as a parent.

"You want to raise him?"

"I will do better than you, you tried to murder your own child."

That meeting ended badly, he walked out in anger and I saw him calling for Sasuke-chan who ran to his uncle and nuzzled into his chest as he was carried back to the village.

I turned around slowly seeing Itachi walking away from the forest and toward me. "You have what you want, our demon child is going to be a Ninja." I walked into my kitchen and he stopped me by putting the hand on the door so I could not open it.

"Do you honestly think you can take care of him?" his voice was colder than normal, but I could be just as cold back.

"Do you think I care? You should allow me to finish what I started. Sasuke-chan is going to live a horrible and miserable life. He will see death in every vision, he will be traumatized and forced to be an Emperor's fortune teller."

"You really think otouto-san will let that happen to our child?" Itachi pulled me close and glared into my eyes. "You act as if you know everything that will happen. You can't predict everything, Hitori-san. You once told me that the future is up to us, that people who rely on you are the weak ones." I pulled away, his grip became stronger. "If you so much as try and kill him again, Hitori-san, I will have no choice, but to kill you!"

* * *

Sasuke's Point of View

Sasu slept with his head resting on my left shoulder, his eyes were closed and his dark hair fell into his face. I had decided against another falling out of the bed incident and put the crib back up. The older children's bed was taken apart and was folded up in a storage area. I sat Sasu on my bed and changed him into his bedclothes, then put him into the crib, just as his head hit the pillow, he started to cry. "Hush, hush," I whispered and he reached up for me and stood up jumping in the crib. "No, you sleep in your bed, and I sleep in mine."

"UNCLE!" the boy reached for me and I laid him back down in the crib and put his blankets on him.

"Sasu-chan is going to sleep in his crib," I whispered and shut the curtain, turning off the light as I went from the room. I heard him crying for at least ten minutes, then when I went in after I changed for bed, he was lying quietly sleeping. "Good night Sasu-chan."

So this was family, it felt nice, at least for now.


End file.
